necessary, one quart of the infusion given
daily--which, during the summer, need not be warmed--will suffice." The
hay-tea should be made fresh every two days, as it soon loses its
nutritious quality.

This and other preparations are given, not because they are better than
milk,--than which nothing is better adapted to fatten a calf, or promote
its growth,--but simply to economize by providing the simplest and
cheapest substitutes. Experience shows that the first two or three
calves are smaller than those which follow; and hence, unless they are
pure-bred, and to be kept for the blood, they are not generally thought
to be so desirable to raise for the dairy as the third or fourth, and
those that come after, up to the age of nine or ten years. Opinions upon
this point, however, differ.

According to the comparative experiments of a German agriculturist, cows
which as calves had been allowed to suck their dams from two to four
weeks, brought calves which weighed only from thirty-five to forty-eight
pounds; while others, which as calves had been allowed to suck from five
to eight weeks, brought calves which weighed from sixty to eighty
pounds. It is difficult to see how there can be so great a difference,
if, indeed, there be any; but it may be worthy of careful observation
and experiment, and as such it is stated here. The increased size of the
calf would be due to the increased size to which the cow would attain;
and if as a calf she were allowed to run in the pasture with her dam for
four or five months, taking all the milk she wanted, she would doubtless
be kept growing on in a thriving condition. But taking a calf from the
cow at four or even eight weeks must check its growth to some extent;
and this may be avoided by feeding liberally, and bringing up by hand.

After the calf is fully weaned, there is nothing very peculiar in the
general management. A young animal will require for the first few
months--say up to the age of six months--an average of five or six
pounds daily of good hay, or its equivalent. At the age of six months,
it will require from four and a half to five pounds; and at the end of
the year, from three and a half or four pounds of good hay, or its
equivalent, for every one hundred pounds of its live weight; or, in
other words, about three and a half or four per cent. of its live
weight. At two years old, it will require three and a half, and some
months later, three per cent. of its live weight d